This challenge is to create an interaction about the current Ebola outbreak. I wanted to highlight the efforts of individuals.  Read more...

This week's challenge is to outline a plan to survive the impending Zombie Apocalypse. I came up with a strategy that involves dating, but it may be flawed. (Would you date a zombie, after all?) Read more...

This challenge is to share 10 things you don't like to hear as an ID. Mine are all pretty good treats, so I gave it a Halloween twist. Read more...

This week's challenge is about preventing workplace violence. Ironically, my harrowing scenario takes place at the jolliest time of year. Read more...

This week's challenge is to create a digital learning magazine. Mine pits 12-year-olds against sales and marketing executives. Read more...

This week’s challenge is to create an educational game for kids, so I gave you some money and took you to a cupcake shop. You're welcome. Read more...

(This post is part 1 of 2) Typically online courses see a completion rate of 7-14%. So, only 7-14% of students that sign up for a course actually finish it. MOOCs (massive open online courses) are often even worse. At Thinkific, our completion rates do vary from course to course, but we typically see completion rates in the 85-95% range, significantly higher than average. Should you care about completion rates for your online courses? The short answer is… of course you should! But why? And what if I’m just out to make a buck selling courses, should I still care about completion rates? Here’s a look at online course completion rates and why you should care. First, a few reasons why students do not complete online courses: the course was too time intensive the lectures were too long the course delivery software was old, clunky or delivered a poor user experience no encouragement to complete the course they just forgot about it after they signed up Why shorter lessons work better: shorter lectures (2-7 minutes) allow students to feel rewarded each time they complete a small part of the course, especially if your course software gives them feedback and encouragement along the way they can see their completion move slowly towards 100% as they tick off or complete each small item they have more control and can take courses on their own time and at their own pace learners will have a much better experience consuming short lessons and be less likely to become bored and leave the course all together What if I already have longer videos or lessons? Don’t worry if you’ve got longer content already produced. It’s easy to cut longer lectures up into bite size, digestible pieces. There’s plenty of free video editing software that will allow you to cut your longer lectures up into smaller pieces including iMovie (for Mac) and Movie Maker (for PC). Why should I care about online course completion rates? Regardless of your motivations for offering online courses, you should care about completion rates. But why? Regardless of your motivations for offering online courses, you should care about completion rates.Click To Tweet Higher completion rates mean happier learners that get more value out of your course. And that leads to a host of benefits including: students value your course more and are…. more likely to review it positively more likely to refer others to your course more likely to share it on social networks more likely to actually learn and retain information from your course more likely to apply the information from your course more likely to return to you for future learning When a learner completes a course, they are more likely to get more value out of the course and to value the course itself. This means higher ratings and reviews, which helps both if you’re tying to sell copies of your course and if you just want more students. Higher completion rates and happier students also increases referrals of new potential learners, which will drive up your student base, client list, and course sales. There’s also the obvious reason that if learners don’t complete your course they won’t have learned as much and you won’t get to share your knowledge with as many people as you would with better completion rates! We now understand the problem, but what can be done about it? Check out part 2 of our post where we share 6 online course completion tips to see completion, engagement and enrollment rise for your courses.  

This week's challenge is to share your top tips for freelancers. I wrote a few words, grabbed a few photos, and made it happen. Read more...

This week a reader asked me how to find work as a freelancer, so I've trotted out my 3-step secret formula to share it with the world. Read more...

I just spent a week of vacation doing photo challenges and it's time to share the results. Here's how you can do the same! Read more...